If One of Them is Dead
by dorkymonsterXD
Summary: The Pretty Committee has made it to high school. Alicia is a social outcast, Kristen has given up sports, Dylan is the new popular girl, Claire is a Hollywood starlet and Massie...may be dead.
1. Chapter 1

**MASSIE BLOCK STILL MISSING!**

Alicia Rivera stared at the words, hardly believing them. The newspaper article had been pinned to the bulletin board of the main office at Westlake High School since freshman year. Even though it had been there the entire time Alicia had been in high school, even though she had seen it every day, she woke up every day hoping it wasn't real.

She scanned the rest of the article. She had read it so many times she had nearly memorized the words.

_Eighth grader Massie Block vanished Friday, October 10__th__. Police have searched the area, coming up with no trace of the missing girl. Police assume she is being held for ransom and expect Massie's safe return shortly…_

Alicia's eyes brimmed with tears. There had been no safe return. Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and months turned into years. Eventually, the Westchester police force declared the case closed. Massie's parents were devastated. They hired hundreds of detectives, but it always ended the same way. The last Alicia heard, the Blocks had moved, partly to avoid the constant swarm of reporters, but Alicia had a feeling they couldn't bear to stay in Westchester. No one knew where they went.

That day haunted Alicia. She had been at home texting her boyfriend Josh when she got the news. As soon as she heard, she fainted. She spent her whole life believing Massie was perfect. Nothing bad happened to her.

Two girls in her homeroom walked up to her, snickering.

"Hey Alicia," they said with exaggerated enthusiasm. Alicia pretended not to hear.

"I didn't know there was an STD that caused hearing problems," one of them hissed. Alicia could picture Massie barking out a comeback. Massie always defended her. She even went up against a teacher for giving her a C on a report. Then she remembered. She was fighting with Massie around the time she went missing. She doubted they had spoken. If somehow she had known…

Alicia shook her head, trying not to think about it.

"Slut," one of them hissed. Alicia stiffened. They walked away, cackling. Alicia watched them go. Two years ago, those girls were afraid to walk in front of her. She couldn't help wondering how her life would have changed if Massie hadn't been…

Her whole body was shaking. She slumped against the wall and crumbled. Tears streamed down her face, but this time, she didn't care how many people watched with prying eyes. She kept telling herself that somehow, Massie was okay, until the tears stopped.

Alicia tore down the newspaper article and crumpled it in her hand.


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR NOTE: Hey guys! Thank you so much for the amazing reviews for this story. 3 The last chapter was sort of an introduction to the series. The chapters from here on out will be longer. Oh, and just a fair warning, there might be a few spoilers for those of you who haven't read PS: I Loathe You yet. The Pretty Committee's eighth grade year didn't happen the way it did in the books because Massie went missing. Thanks again for reading my story!**

In seventh grade, Kristen Gregory couldn't imagine live without sports. Soccer was a breathing part of her.  
Things had changed.  
When she looked in the mirror, she didn't even see the same Kristen. Her hair had grown to a point where it was constantly falling in her eyes. Her eyes were darker, more mysterious than attractive. Her skin was paler, mostly from her tan rapidly fading after she was no longer in the sun from soccer practice. Kristen couldn't imagine her mother's reaction if she could see how much her daughter had changed. But her parents had gotten divorced a year ago. Her mother had moved to Georgia where Kristen's aunt lived and cut off nearly every tie with her ex-husband. For awhile, Kristen had a secret paranoia that her mother was ashamed that she had given up soccer. It wasn't as if it was Kristen's choice in the first place. The accident was simply that, an accident. As much as she told herself that, she couldn't help but feel guilty, even though it wasn't really her fault.  
"Kristen!"  
Kristen looked up and smiled. Gina and the others set their book bags on the lunch table and sat down around Kristen. They were always in the same order: Gina sat on Kristen's left, then Robyn, Sam and Oliver filled in the rest of the seats on the circular table. Kristen was reminded of seventh grade. Massie, Alicia, Dylan, Claire and herself always sat in the same order, the same table even. Lunchtime had been one of her favorite memories with her once upon a time friends. They would gossip, share secrets, discuss crush worthy boys and plan every minute together at lunch. When Massie disappeared, the Pretty Committee dissolved. Claire got offered a role and a movie and left for Hollywood to become a star. Dylan took Massie's place as the popular girl. And Alicia...well, Kristen wasn't sure she could forgive her for what she did. Neither could anyone else for that matter.  
"How was art class?" Gina asked, carefully unwrapping the foil around her turkey wrap.  
"Great. Ms. Arthur wants to send my drawing in for some super prestigious art contest." Kristen said, trying to sound nonchalant. In truth, she knew exactly what the contest was. It was the Preston-Wentz art award. Talented artists across the country were honored by the award, the highest honor a high school artist could receive. Only a single artist won every two years, and that artist got an instant scholarship to one of the top art schools in the country. The last winner of the contest had ended up a professional photographer at eighteen. Kristen could barely wrap her head around it. She had recently discovered a talent for art and had been Ms. Arthur's best student ever since.  
"We all know Kristen will win. She's the best artist Westlake had seen." Oliver flashed a grin at Kristen. Kristen blushed. She really liked Oliver. He was sweet and artistic and funny and the all around perfect guy for her.  
"Good luck, Kristen." Robyn said, interrupting Kristen's thoughts about Oliver. The others echoed the same thing.  
"Thanks, guys." Kristen said, blushing again. While Sam started talking about a prank he played on Lisa Mahoney, one of the popular girls, in English class, Kristen felt a sharp burning in her chest. She tried not to think about it, but her coughing was too loud to ignore.  
"Oh man," Oliver was the first to notice. "I'll walk you to the nurse."  
Kristen couldn't do much but nod pitifully.  
Walking to the nurse's office, Kristen's coughing ended just as quickly as it began.  
"Thanks for taking me to the nurse." Kristen said as soon as she could talk again. It was sort of lame, but she needed something to start a conversation.  
"No problem," Oliver said. "Asthma sucks, doesn't it?"  
Kristen nodded, reminded of another painful memory.  
The summer before ninth grade, Kristen went over to Dempsey's house for the Fourth of July. Dempsey tried shooting off fireworks to impress her. Maybe Kristen had gotten too close, or maybe the firework was angled the wrong way. Kristen had been rushed to the hospital soon after.  
She had burns on chest and part of her stomach, which turned into three ugly scars after a year. The worst part was the scarred tissue in her lungs. The surgeons couldn't remove it all without seriously damaging her lungs. Kristen ended up with a serious case of asthma and lungs that couldn't be fixed.  
"It really does." Kristen said at last.  
"At least you have me to get you through it." Oliver said.  
"You?"  
"Yeah. I'm under the impression that you think I'm an amazing friend."  
Something about the way his eyes sparkled made Kristen want to take a leap of faith.  
"Maybe I'd want you as more then a friend."  
Oliver didn't say anything. His grin broke into a huge smile. He wrapped his arms around Kristen's waist and pulled her into a tight hug. Out of the corner of her eye, Kristen thought she saw Alicia standing near the main office, fighting tears. Kristen blinked, and Alicia was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been online. I dropped my laptop last month and I thought everything was fine. But then the screen started flashing so I took it to the wonderful Staples guy and he said I'd need a new laptop. So the past few days I've been backing up all of my stories and pictures until I have the money to buy a new one. I'm still on my old one for now, but I'll write as much as I can. On another note, this story WAS originally going to be a crossover between Pretty Little Liars and The Clique. I wrote the story two months ago like that, but I recently changed my mind because I didn't finish reading the books at the time. So if there are some similarities, that's why. I MIGHT still do a crossover…if you guys think it's a good idea, that is.:) Oh, and I made up the title on my own. I never watched the show because when it came out I was halfway through the first book and didn't want it spoiled. Sorry if these are so short. I wrote them short because I wasn't sure if the story would be something people would read…But thanks for the comments, sorry I've been gone so long, and tell me what you think about a POSSIBLE crossover.:)**

For the first time in sixteen long, insecure years of life, Dylan Marvil was confident.  
Last summer, Dylan hit a growth spurt and shot up and inch and a half. After that, everything happened at once. She was buying size two minis at DKNY, swapping makeup tips with Lisa Mahoney, the most popular girl at Westlake High, being invited to the hottest senior's parties...  
Whoever was in charge of beauty and style had finally decided it was Dylan's time to shine.  
"Sam Fletcher is so obsessed with me." Lisa ran a brush through her inky black curls. "He dumped half a pound of glue and torn up books in my bag in English class." Lisa gestured to the pathetic heap of glue, paper, and expensive leather that used to be Lisa's favorite bag. "I'm ditching it here. Maybe he'll rescue it and put it in his shrine."  
Dylan snorted.  
"He probably knows you like the bathrooms on the third floor the best because they get surprisingly amazing cell reception."  
"It's because it used to be the teacher's lounge before they remodeled the school," Lisa said. "God knows Mrs. Aiken's obsession with eBay."  
"She sits at her desk checking bids all day. That's why there was a fire in her chemistry class this morning." Dylan added. She wasn't sure if it was true or not, but she was fueled by Lisa's constant approval. Dylan and Lisa had clicked as soon as tenth grade started. Lisa always said that Massie Block, "gawdblesshersoul", had rubbed off on them. At the time, Dylan had laughed and secretly prayed that Massie was still alive. When she was shopping, Dylan would always look twice if she saw a flash of glossy brunette hair. Sometimes when she was at Starbucks, she would swear she heard Massie laughing. Lisa would convince her she was just hungry and coax her to eat. Dylan's appetite, and waist line, had decreased as whispers of Massie's disappearing act got more and more frenzied.  
The loud, forced laughter of Olivia Ryan, the unwanted third member of the usual lunch ditching group, was enough to end Lisa and Dylan's jokes. Olivia coughed and straightened the hem of her dress. When Olivia wasn't looking, Lisa rolled her eyes.  
"So, um, shouldn't we be getting back to the lunch room?" Olivia said.  
Lisa and Dylan shared a look of annoyance. Even though she dyed her hair chestnut and was twice as beautiful as she was in seventh grade, she was still just as clueless. Sometimes, Olivia could be legitimately fun when she was laughing about the knockoff Coach bags at the mall. But most of the time, she was an annoyance. She was only friends with Dylan and Lisa because she was dating Lisa's hot younger brother Noah And since Noah was part of the group, Olivia was in by default.  
And every group had an unwanted member. In seventh grade, Claire was the one they all secretly made fun of, up until Massie and Alicia got into their fight. Now Claire was America's sweetheart. Go figure.  
"Great idea, Olivia. You go ahead, and we'll catch up, okay?" Lisa said.  
"Can you call me Liv from now on? Like the character from the movie Summer's Best Two Weeks that Claire Lyons starred as?"  
Lisa glared at Olivia, her bright green eyes flashing. Olivia whimpered. But just like that, the moment of anger was replaced by a smile.  
"Sure, Liv," Lisa said through gritted teeth.  
Olivia squealed her thanks and scampered out of the bathroom. As soon as she was gone, Lisa's smile disappeared. "God. I have to get my brother to break up with her."  
While Lisa fired off a few quick texts on her iPhone, Dylan felt a cold draft in the room. That moment of lost control was eerily similar to the moments where Massie would lash out and sudden become a megabitch. Dylan wondered if Massie was watching them now.  
"Dylan? You coming?" Lisa stood near the door. Her best friend's voice snap her to reality.  
"Yeah, of course." Dylan smoothed her red curls and marched out of the bathroom, Lisa at her side. With every click of their heels, Dylan told herself that she had everything and simply didn't have the time to be insecure. And like that, Dylan realized how happy she really was. She was skinny. She was drop dead gorgeous, in the words of her boyfriend Derrick Harrington. She had an amazing best friend. Why should she dwell in the past?  
Massie and the chilling suspicion that she was being watched melted away.


End file.
